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South Bay Postscripts : A Look Back at People and Events in the News : Work on Housing Development in Rancho P.V. Starts

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The 49-unit Golden Cove town-home project in Rancho Palos Verdes--criticized by some residents for putting too much development on 6.3 acres but touted by officials as a way to create affordable housing--was approved by the City Council in June, 1986.

Since then, the developer and the name have changed. But work on the project, which was first proposed five years ago, is finally under way.

Grading of the sloping acreage along Hawthorne Boulevard just above the Golden Cove shopping center has started. Eugene Schiappa of E. S. Development Co. in Redondo Beach said buildings will start going up in 90 days and the town homes will be marketed next summer. Villa Capri has replaced Golden Cove as the project’s name.

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Schiappa said he paid $3.2 million in March to buy out Orange County developer Howard Adler, who conceived the development and shepherded it through numerous Planning Commission and council sessions.

The project was regarded as the most bitterly contested development in city history. Critics not only opposed the density of the development but also said it would create traffic problems.

Schiappa said he has not decided what to charge for most of the units, but 10 must be priced at $135,000 under an affordable-housing requirement imposed by the council. Officials said they wanted to take a stab at housing for people earning no more than $50,000 a year, and, at the same time, shield the city against lawsuits on grounds that Rancho Palos Verdes had done nothing to provide its fair share of affordable housing.

The city is now looking into the legality of giving city residents first priority in buying the units.

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